It’s Been a Bad Week in Washington: Ex-Jets player is Suing Sessions To Legalize Marijuana

It’s Been a Bad Week in Washington: Ex-Jets player is Suing Sessions To Legalize Marijuana

Marvin Washington, the former Jets defensive end, is suing Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the head of the Department of Justice to decriminalize marijuana. Washington was drafted by the Jets in 1989 and won the Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos in 1998.

He is one of five plaintiffs in a new Manhattan federal lawsuit against Sessions, challenging the constitutionality of the 1970 Controlled Substance Act that classifies marijuana as a dangerous substance.

“Classifying cannabis as a ‘Schedule I drug’ is so irrational that it violates the U.S. Constitution,” the suit says, and points out that Meth and cocaine are considered more benign than marijuana with how the law is currently written.

Attorney Michael Hiller represents Washington and the other plaintiffs, which includes 11-year-old Alexis Bortell, who needs medical marijuana treatment for epilepsy, and disabled military veteran Jose Belen, who uses it to control PTSD, “The record makes clear that the CSA doesn’t make any rational sense and the federal government knows it,” he said.

Washington is suing because the Controlled Substance Act prevents him from obtaining federal grants to open a business that would allow pro football players to use medical marijuana for pain management in lieu of more addictive opioids.

Sessions has made no secret of his disdain for cannabis, saying that he’s “not a fan of expanded use of marijuana.”